Salford’s Mayor Paul Dennett has intervened in the controversy and concerns over the potential loss of Public Right of Way along a section of the Irwell river-towpath
He has instructed council officers to investigate any and all possible routes to preserving the right of way.
Campaigners were unhappy when the council initially gave planning permission for a hotel to block access to three hundred metres of footpath along the river which they say has been a public right of way for over three hundred years
The scheme known as Ralli Quays is for an office complex and a 16-storey, 260-bed hotel and will divert the path through a hotel lobby which will not be fully accessible to the public.
Last week the Government granted permission for a public inquiry into the affair although no date has yet been set
One of the people behind the campaign Dr Morag Rose says:
The right to roam is a fundamentally important cause. It must apply in towns + cities too; our streets should be a common treasury for encounter, play, connection, greenery and so much more. Not everyone aspires to wander joyfully or find peace only in the countryside
The Mayor says that the “towpath remains damaged, and an engineering solution still needs to be found if it is to become safe – but if we can keep open the possibility of finding a way forward in future, then we will.”
